posted 02-26-2024 09:17 AM
Au contraire, my friend Spationaut!!! You have solved the problem. Thank you.All my attempts to nail down a corresponding launch failed because of my mistake in not recognising Showa 43 as AD 1968. Such a basic mistake.
12th September 1968 is 17 months after the failed Ohsumi-3 launch from Uchinoura/Kagoshima.
No more rocket launches of any kind took place at Uchinoura after the Ohsumi-3 failure whilst ISAS regathered their momentum after Hideo Itokawa (the founder of ISAS) was forced out by a relentless media campaign in 1967.
Then Japan, or more precisely ISAS, resumed launches from Kagoshima with three 'test' missions, using the S-160 (100kg weight) Japanese ISAS singe stage sounding rocket, on 10th September (twice) and 12th September 1968.
Apart from it being a single stage (not two stage) sounding rocket, and not knowing if F1 was the first or third launch, the facts now correspond.
It is a launch cover for a Japanese sounding rocket S-160* on 12th September 1968 from Uchinoura by ISAS, after a gap of 17 months when no launches took place.
* The S series is a family of Japanese sounding rockets. The S stands for stage, thus one S equals single stage and SS stands for two stage. The T stands for test version, and the 160 is the rocket's diameter in millimeters.